THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s official. CPI central secretariat member Binoy Viswam will remain as CPI state secretary. The party state executive that met in the presence of general secretary D Raja and national executive member Annie Raja on Wednesday unanimously finalized Binoy as secretary. The party-state council that will meet on Thursday will ratify the same.
Before the executive meeting itself, there was an understanding that the executive should propose just one name as secretary. At the executive held at the joint council, state committee office national executive member K Prakash Babu proposed Binoy Viswam’s name. No other names came up for discussion. Following this, Binoy Viswam made an emotional speech about taking charge as secretary.
CPI general secretary D Raja, central secretariat member Rama Krushna Panda, and national executive member Annie Raja attended the meeting.
Binoy Viswam was given secretary’s charge after the demise of incumbent Kanam Rajendran two weeks ago. A section within the party was unhappy with the way Binoy was hastily given charge, on the very day Kanam Rajendran’s funeral was held. Veteran leader K E Ismail openly came out against the hasty decision. There were indications that the national leadership took the hasty decision to avoid any rift in the party. However, the official leadership had a face-saver as Kanam had proposed Binoy’s name before his death.